The Failure of Markets: Energy, Housing and Health

This book argues that direct government in kind production and redistributive measures are needed to address economic issues such as renewable energy, housing, health, and income disparities. It suggests that the market cannot match the rapid movement towards solutions that governmental in kind production can provide, and that a shift in production should be accompanied by higher taxes on corporations and the rich and the adoption of monetary policies in line with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). The book also demonstrates that the current lack of imaginative solutions results from a paralysis of imagination rooted in nineteenth-century liberalism that held that the market was to serve all issues.

Format: Hardback
Length: 122 pages
Publication date: 03 March 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

The core thesis of this book is that the major economic issues of renewable energy, housing, health, and income disparities could best be addressed through direct government in kind production and redistributive measures. It is argued that this governmental in kind production of essential needs would allow a rapid movement towards solutions that the market cannot possibly match. The market works through indirect means. So, it is no mystery why in the areas of energy, housing, and health, problems are not only formidable but in many respects are getting worse. In contrast, governmental in kind production would be direct. Outcomes could be explicitly planned, and managers would be publicly accountable. This shift in production should be accompanied by redistributive measures through higher taxes on corporations and the rich and the possible adoption of monetary policies in line with Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Relatedly, the book demonstrates that the current lack of imaginative solutions results from a paralysis of imagination, rooted deeply in nineteenth-century liberalism that held that the market was to serve all issues. A progressive agenda today needs to separate out needs from wants and to engage government production in the service of collectivist needs. In kind production would infuse a democratic component within the economy. The last chapter of the book also deals with how the ideology of neoliberalism blocks even the contemplation of governmental production in the service of peoples needs.

This accessible work will be of significant interest to anyone seeking original solutions to age-old problems, particularly readers of public policy, heterodox economics, progressive politics, and MMT. More generally, it is of interest to scholars and students of economics, political science, and social policy.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032192420